Scott Petersen: Nebraska Should Act Now on Citizenship Verification
Nebraska should act now and it should have been acting all along.
Today, the United States Supreme Court, in a 6–3 decision, allowed the Trump Administration to move forward with its expanded SAVE system while the underlying litigation continues. The ruling restores access to a federal tool states can use to help verify the citizenship status of individuals on voter rolls.
This is not a brand-new tool. The expanded SAVE system, including bulk searches and Social Security number matching, became available in May 2025. Nebraska had access to the expanded system for months before the 90-day pre-election period began, providing an opportunity to use federal information for lawful citizenship verification and voter-list maintenance.
Then, in June 2026, a lower court blocked the expanded system and its new capabilities. Today’s Supreme Court decision allows those capabilities to move forward again while the litigation continues.
Nebraska’s election officials should use every lawful and reliable tool available to ensure that our voter rolls contain only eligible voters.
Federal law prohibits noncitizens from voting in federal elections. If Nebraska identifies and verifies that a registered voter is not a U.S. citizen and is therefore ineligible to vote, that registration should be addressed in accordance with state and federal law.
We should do that work now.
Federal law restricts systematic voter-removal programs during the final 90 days before a federal election. That does not mean Nebraska should stop verifying the accuracy of its voter records. Election officials should immediately evaluate information returned through SAVE, investigate potential discrepancies, contact voters when appropriate, and follow every notice and due-process requirement of state and federal law. Registrations should be removed before the election only where removal is clearly authorized by law; any systematic removal that cannot lawfully occur during the 90-day period should be completed afterward.
Citizenship verification must also be accurate. A database flag is information to investigate, not by itself proof of ineligibility. Government records can contain errors, and eligible citizens, including naturalized Americans, must not lose their registrations because of inaccurate or incomplete information.
I am calling on Nebraska’s Secretary of State and election officials to promptly evaluate the federal information now available, resume appropriate citizenship-verification work, provide required notice and due process, and take every voter-list maintenance action presently authorized by law.
This should not be controversial.
American elections are for American citizens. Nebraska’s elections are for Nebraska’s citizens.
Every eligible Nebraskan should be able to vote, and every Nebraskan should be able to expect that our voter rolls contain only people legally eligible to participate.
We have the tools. We have the responsibility. Let’s finish the work.
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